Wednesday, October 31, 2012

One Month in South Africa

Wow, a whole month in South Africa has passed. Craziness. It’s weird because even after a month I sometimes have to stop and remind myself that “OhEmGee I am actually living on my own as a fellow in South Africa.” I have to remind myself for two reasons. The first is that part of me still cannot believe what I am experiencing. The other part of me feels like life is pretty normal. As I settle into a daily routine I realize that even though everything is totally different than it was a month ago, things are also pretty manageable. Another thing I find I am often reminding myself is that the sun does actually exist. Thirty days in South Africa—I have seen the sun 3 times. Hopefully soon I’ll be whining about the unbearable dry heat.  Until then, I am just getting pastier by the minute (and I don’t need any help on that front).

 Last time I wrote, I had a weekend trip to Durban and a weekend trip to Johannesburg planned. Durban was a blast. On Saturday night we went to a big party at a pub called Waxy’s. It ended up being a late night to say the least. Sunday, we got breakfast and spent some time on the beach.  Predictably a rainstorm cut our seaside relaxation short.

Joburg, sadly did not happen. I was actually out of commission this weekend as I think I caught a little bit of some kind of flu—honestly I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. So I spent the weekend inside being pretty lame and bored. The silver lining is that the weather was overcast and rainy (imagine that) so I didn’t miss any fun in the sun at least. While we’re on the topic of weather, last night as a loud and windy storm passed through PMB I couldn’t stop thinking about all my friends and family on the east coast in the states. Hope everyone is safe and the damage is minimal!

My South African coworkers were also following Hurricane Sandy with a close eye but for a different reason than I was. The CAP008 trial that I am working on, that was set to start in October, was pushed back because of issues with shipping the necessary products from the US. Lucky for us, the shipment made it to South Africa the day before Sandy shut down the east coast! So screening and enrolment for the trial are set to start on Wednesday and things have been a little hectic around here!

Anyway, I was hoping to have some cool updates from my trip to Joburg over the weekend but as I said, that didn’t happen. Next time I post I want to upload a video of a typical Monday morning meeting at site. Sounds dreadfully boring, I promise it’s not.  You’re in for a treat. So stay tuned!

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